Last updated Oct 11, 2024 and written by Tom Richardson

The service address explained

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When appointing a director for a limited company you will have to provide a service address. In this post we’re going to explain what the service address is, the difference between the service address and the registered office, and how to go about changing the service address.

What is the service address?


The service address is the official address for a UK company director. It can be any address anywhere in the world that the director has permission to use. The director need not live at, work from or be based at all from the address. -The only requirement is that official mail (from Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs and Companies House) sent to the address is forwarded on to the director.

The service address is on the public register. This raises questions of privacy – if someone uses their residential address as their service address (which is allowed), that address immediately becomes publicly accessible information.

Find out about our service that lets you use our address (20 Wenlock Road) as the service address for your company director/s – helping you keep private addresses, private

What’s the difference between the service address and the registered office?

Whilst they do share some similarities (both are on the public register, the company need not trade from or be based at either), the registered office and the service address are different.

  • The registered office is the official address for a company. The service address is the official address for a director.
  • The registered office must be based in England, Scotland, Northern Ireland or Wales. The service address can be anywhere

It’s worth pointing out that the registered office and service address can be the same address.

Changing the service address

If your limited company is on our company admin portal you can update a director’s service address by selecting ‘Edit’ next to the relevant director, ticking the ‘Change’ box under ‘Service Address’, adding the new address and then selecting ‘Save’. The change normally takes three working hours to go though.

If the company is not on the company admin portal you can change it directly with Companies House online or via paper documents. Changing the service address is free to do, regardless of how you do it.

There it is, everything you need to know about the director’s service address. We hope you’ve found this post helpful.

Find out about using our address as your service address.